Last week, Netscape posted an announcement that they were calling it quits with their "Digg-Clone" social media site. They said that after a study, they found that people didn’t associate the Netscape brand with socially controlled news, therefore they were moving on. They also promised though, that their social news site would be around, just not at the Netscape.com domain. Soon Netscape users will be forwarded to a more traditional type of web page while those seeking a social news experience will be sent to Netscape’s new "Digg Clone" home – Propeller.com.

Propeller.com isn’t live yet, but when it is, it’ll essentially be the previous Netscape Social News experience with a new name and logo. The logo even incorporates the same colors as Netscape, so I’d assume that what they currently have at Netscape.com will just be migrated over to the new domain without many, if any changes.

I’m hesitant to say that Propeller will see more success than what they did with Netscape, but if they have any chance of making it, I’d say breaking off under a new domain with a new identity was necessary. It appears that they have a semi-loyal group of readers who regularly vote on stories, so they’ll probably happily switch over to Propeller, especially because user’s Netscape accounts will transfer over. This will also prove as a test for them to see how loyal their readers actually are.

The logo definitely looks more Web 2.0ish which leaves me surprised that they didn’t go with Propellr, (dropping vowels appears to be a Web 2.0 requirement!) and I think the name suits the site well. All I can say to Propeller is good luck! I don’t think the social news market is in any need of an additional site. So there you have it, Netscape’s new "Digg Clone" home has been revealed, and now we just need to wait for the migration to take place. When it goes live, it’ll be found at www.propeller.com.

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I guess I have to give them credit — they have had a rough time over the last several years and they haven’t given up. While I’ll think that they’ll have no choice but to throw in the towel eventually, they’re giving it all that they’ve got.

I guess I have to give them credit — they have had a rough time over the last several years and they haven’t given up. While I’ll think that they’ll have no choice but to throw in the towel eventually, they’re giving it all that they’ve got.